


When summoned

by apathyinreverie



Series: Tipping the scales [6]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: ... at least I think so?, Alternate Universe, Canon Compliant, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, F/M, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Post-Canon, and now includes quite a bit of worldbuilding, kind of crack, which then turned out far more serious than I had intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29289051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apathyinreverie/pseuds/apathyinreverie
Summary: Where the Shadowhunter characters from canon switch places with the season 1 SH cast, suddenly finding themselves in our wonderfully mundane world.Chaos promptly ensues.
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood
Series: Tipping the scales [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1652476
Comments: 40
Kudos: 117





	When summoned

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is pretty much the canon characters from the epilogue switching places with the SH cast at some point during the filming of season 1. Because I haven’t slept in two days and my brain stopped making sense a while ago and this idea was simply too ridiculous not to write it.

Alec is glaring at his surroundings.

Something is off, very very off.

They were fighting against that weird demon thing that didn’t look like anything he had ever seen before and he’d finally managed to get a clean shot in, piercing it in that one weak spot Jace had called out to him seconds before, Magnus holding off the hordes of skittering demon-bug things trying to overwhelm them. He knows his arrow landed true – they always do – the weird demon screeching in agony, light suffusing the catacombs they were fighting in as the thing imploded in on itself. Then a strange, warped light twisting around them from every corner, a swooping sensation that unbalanced him for just a mere fraction of a second, and then… he was suddenly somewhere else entirely, no longer in New York’s catacombs and none of the others who had been fighting alongside him anywhere to be seen.

Not to even mention that the place Alec has found himself in makes absolutely no sense.

Sure, it’s some sort of living space, that much he can tell. But it’s tube-like, like a small bit of corridor with everything a complete apartment is supposed to have, but it’s also ridiculously small and everything made of plastic and metal, and nothing at all is looking familiar to him.

Then again, the weird apartment isn’t actually what has him glaring. No, most of Alec’s attention is actually taken up by the pictures stuck to various surfaces of cupboards and mirrors and any flat surfaces to be seen, scattered all around him, interspersed with postcards and letters and other stuff that Alec couldn’t care less about.

Because, those pictures? Most of them are of him, of Alec, in places he cannot recall, surrounded by people he doesn’t know, and in situations he’s never been in. Not to even mention that this person in the pictures, while definitely him also doesn’t really look like him at the same time, smiling broadly and so obviously happy in every single picture in a way that Alec just isn’t. Not to even mention that the picture-Alec doesn’t have a single rune showing on his skin.

Thing is just, some of the pictures also include a just-as-rune-free Izzy, who looks so much softer than his sister has ever been, as well as a Jace who is grinning so goofily at the camera the white of his teeth is honestly making Alec a little dizzy with how unused he is to seeing his parabatai grin so brightly. There are also pictures of others, one of Raphael and a Simon sitting out in broad daylight, rather evidently sunning themselves, another with a happily smiling Valentine, arms wrapped loosely around Luke’s and Simon’s shoulders, not to even mention the one of Valentine making ridiculous goofy faces at the camera together with Iris Rouse and Meliorn, Jace cracking up in the background.

Alec feels his eyes narrowing.

Because, there are also a couple of pictures that have Magnus in them. A Magnus who doesn’t look at all like himself either, his hair not styled as usual, no make-up, no jewelry, and his smile so much more subdued than Alec is used to seeing it in some and so ridiculously bright in others. Whoever that Magnus-like person in the pictures might be, it’s definitely not his husband and Alec isn’t at all amused thinking about just what that might mean.

Alec frowns. None of this is making sense. Because, standing in this weird place with the weird pictures of someone who looks like him but obviously isn’t, Alec himself isn’t entirely who he is supposed to be either. Sure, there are runes on his skin but they aren’t where they are supposed to be and he feels no connection to them at all, his clothes are similar to what he usually wears but not exactly what he was wearing this morning. The only thing still the same is that small cut on his arm that he got during the earlier fight, still bleeding a little.

He glares a little harder, that truly bad feeling of what in the world could possibly be going on here only growing, remembers Jace’s stories of a world like theirs but also just not. And now, every single scenario Alec is coming up with either involves him being caught in some sort of weird illusion that has far too many mistakes to keep him ignorant but far too solid for anyone not immensely powerful to be behind it, or involves him being in a place he doesn’t belong at all.

He isn’t particularly enthusiastic about either scenario.

A sudden knock from his left has Alec instantly transfer his glare to what appears to be the door leading to the outside. He still isn’t sure whether he wants to step outside and see just how messed up the rest of this maybe-an-illusion-maybe-a-completely-different-place-from-where-he-is-supposed-to-be might turn out to be.

Though his glare instantly disappears when – after a few seconds of delay – there is another knock and then a familiar voice asking rather carefully, “Hello?”

_Magnus._

Or rather, who Alec rather desperately hopes is actually Magnus, as in _his_ Magnus.

He is already taking the two steps to cross the distance to the door, swinging it open, pauses at the sight of Magnus not looking like himself at all, instead looking far more like the picture-Magnus Alec had been glaring at just moments ago.

“Hey,” Alec greets carefully, eyes focused on the person in front of him, desperately looking for a sign of this being his Magnus, his husband, and not some weird other version of him.

Reassuringly, Alec himself is being regarded just as intently in return.

And finally, after another two or three seconds, something about Magnus’ entire posture seems to relax, tension bleeding out of his frame, like he had been just as worried about what he might find on the other side of the door. “Hello, darling,” he greets, his smile turning warm and soft and breathtaking.

Something in Alec’s chest instantly loosens.

Because, that’s _his_ Magnus. Not some weird impostor version, no matter how different he might look.

“Magnus,” he sighs in greeting, so damn relieved he can’t even put it into words, already reaching out to pull his husband inside with him, trusting the outside of his weird metal-tube apartment even less than he trusts the inside.

As soon as he is inside, door closed behind him, Magnus is leaning in, pressing a soft kiss to Alec’s lips. “How do we keep ending up in these breathtakingly odd situations?” he finally asks humorously, pulling away a little.

Alec just wraps his arms around his husband, his relief at knowing that no matter what this weird place might be, he at least has Magnus right beside him, feeling like a physical weight lifting off him. “You tell me,” he grumbles, burying his face in his husband’s neck. “You’re the one with magic between the two of us.”

Magnus chuckles, one arm wrapping around Alec’s waist in return, the other coming up to cover the back of his neck, protecting Alec’s weak spots as he always does whenever they are in an unfamiliar place, the tips of his fingers tangling in Alec’s hair, thumb running soothing circles into the skin of his neck, a kiss being pressed to his temple. Finally, a sigh, “I’m afraid I don’t have an explanation for this rather breathtakingly odd turn in our lives either, my love.”

Alec feels himself relaxing a little further, comfortable despite everything, presses a soft kiss to the warm skin of his husband’s neck.

“Well, I say we just blame Clary then,” he finally grumbles. “Going by her track record, I’m sure she is somehow involved in this.”

He can’t help his small grin at Magnus’ soft laughter, presses another soft kiss to his husband's neck, happy to stay just like this a little longer.

+++

It doesn’t take long for the rest of their group to find them, everyone who had been fighting that weird twisty-looking demon with them earlier.

Suddenly, Jace is knocking on the door just as Magnus had, a dark, perfectly suspicious frown on his face as Alec opens the door, relief in his eyes as soon as he actually sees Alec, takes him in, expression lightening even further the moment he spots Magnus leaning casually against the wall behind Alec. Izzy and Clary show up before Jace ever manages to make it fully inside, while Simon takes only a few moments longer to make it there as well.

Within twenty minutes there are six people crammed into the rather small space of Alec’s ‘trailer’ – why it’s called that utterly escapes him, because, _trailing what_? – but he also couldn’t care less.

They quickly devolve into a heated discussion on what might be going on, theories being thrown around, even though Magnus is rather quick to clarify that they are in some truly strange version of the world they all know, says something about dimensional magic and reality-twisting or something along those lines, talking about magical theorems and probability magic and string theory, the last bit having Simon sputter something about ‘advanced quantum physics’, all of it going straight over Alec’s – and everyone else’s – head.

If anything, going by everyone else’s utterly baffled expressions, they are clearly understanding even less of what Magnus is trying to explain to them than Alec himself does. Then again, Alec has had a lot of chances to listen to Magnus ramble about magical theory ever since they met, and he is rather proud that he has started to actually pick up on a couple of things about magical theory by now.

Although, it’s situations like these that always remind other people just how much Magnus _knows_ that other people can never hope to learn, just how vast Magnus’ knowledge on all things magical is, how much knowledge he has accumulated over his lifetime. Most people – including Alec’s family – tend to forget that, beneath his glittery, sparkly, cheerfully careless, carpe-diem persona, Magnus is also several centuries old and that he certainly hasn’t made it to an age that most other immortal beings never manage to reach simply by chance or luck or anything but his own strength.

Alec doesn’t forget. Not anymore. He swore to himself before they ever got married that he wouldn’t ever forget again. After the mess with Magnus’ magic and Asmodeus playing them and Magnus giving up everything for Alec, despite Alec himself screwing up so very often and so very badly in the beginning of knowing Magnus, so often losing sight of anything beyond his own struggles… So, Alec swore to himself that he would never lose sight of everything his husband is ever again. He simply doesn’t let himself forget anymore. Not ever.

It’s still a little humorous to see the rest of their group staring rather helplessly at his husband as he keeps talking, keeps explaining things despite having outpaced their level of understand about a minute or two into his ramble.

Then, Jace is opening his mouth, likely to say something, to interrupt Magnus, but Alec promptly cuts off his parabatai with a single glare. So what if he maybe rather likes watching his husband nerd out on magical theory, maybe has a bit of a thing for Magnus getting all adorably enthusiastic as he debates runic circles or ritual design or summoning theory with himself.

Jace better not dare interrupt.

It takes Magnus another few minutes to finish explaining everything he deems necessary – despite most of it having gone straight over everyone’s head – to them, and Simon and Clary promptly do some quick research on their individual phones. It doesn’t take them all that long to figure out that – in possibly the oddest turn Alec’s life has taken so far, which is really saying something – they are currently in a world where they are all playing themselves in a TV show that is called Shadowhunters.

Which is just…

“This is so _strange_ ,” Jace asserts darkly, perfectly putting Alec’s thoughts into words. Strange doesn’t even to cover it. This entire situation is simply absurd.

They are in a universe where versions of themselves exist, who in turn are however only pretending to be them? On TV? To depict the Shadowworld as some sort of fantastical scenario. A scenario which is very much real in Alec’s own world but doesn’t exist in this one?

Magnus nods, and then not-so-enthusiastically confirms that there doesn’t seem to be any real magic in this world, confusedly shrugs his shoulders, says there is _something_ but somehow, by design, there also isn’t, like a gap where something once used to be or maybe still is but hidden away, withdrawn somehow.

Either way, there is no accessible magic for him to draw from in this world.

The others promptly look decidedly more worried at that assertion, apparently rather unsettled at the idea that Magnus, the one between them who can actually cast inter-realm portals, might not have enough power available to get them out of here. Although, Alec isn’t worried. He is fully aware that Magnus holds so much magic within himself these days, was already ludicrously powerful when they met and has since multiplied his power into the utterly-unfathomably-powerful realm after that whole let’s-take-over-Edom-for-a-bit-to-save-the-world stunt of his – which Alec admittedly still hasn’t entirely gotten over - that Magnus ever running out of magic simply isn’t a thing. And even if it were, his husband is always free to draw on Alec’s strength to replenish his own again.

But Magnus also tells them honestly that he needs to first find a way to anchor any portal he casts specifically to their own reality in order for them to go home or they might just end up somewhere else entirely. He is rather clear in his assertion that until he figures out how to do that, they might be stuck for a bit.

Which brings them to an entirely different problem.

“Dear magic, I hope whatever backlash of demonic power sent us here was only a replacement spell and not an actual switch,” Magnus sighs, promptly making everyone else frown at him in question. He shrugs. “I don’t even want to know what sort of mess these alternate, entirely-unused-to-magic versions of us might end up producing in our world if it was a switch instead of unidirectional replacement.”

Alec blinks, hasn’t even thought of that option, a scowl forming on his face. Yeah, he certainly hopes this other, so very carefree Alec – or ‘Matt’ as Simon informed him his name is in this world – wasn’t sent to replace him in their own world, likely making a mess of everything in the process. Though, if that does ends up being the case, they can only be glad they managed to wipe out all the demons before the magic hit, or their alter egos are likely dead now anyway.

Even the others are all suddenly looking far less enthusiastic about the whole getting-to-see-a-different-world thing than they clearly were before.

Then again, it also serves as a reminder that, as strange as this world may be, they all apparently do exist in some way, even clearly seem to know each other by way of playing themselves on TV – which still sounds utterly absurd to Alec – and, most problematically, their alter egos all seem to have their own lives in this world.

Lives that are incredibly different from what they themselves know, all of them celebrities for acting in movies like the ones Magnus has shown Alec before. Simon even exclaims, while glued to the screen of his phone, supposedly ‘researching’ differences, that some of the movies they know from their world, absolutely exist in this one as well. Even more than that, a lot of things seem to be exactly the same in this world as they are in their own.

The one main difference being that the Shadowworld doesn’t seem to exist.

The point is, those other versions of themselves have their own lives in this world, including partners and families and none of it is as it’s supposed to be, but just as real as their own versions of the lives they’ve built for themselves.

Simon is the one who actually says what they are all thinking out loud. “Let’s just try to get back home and, while we’re at it, also try not to ruin the lives of our alter egos, okay?” he suggests in that odd mixture of cheerfully resigned humor that Alec is used to from the vampire these days.

A pause, and then the entire group is turning to focus their stares on Magnus.

Who blinks. “What?”

“Well,” Clary starts leadingly. “If we want even the remotest chance of getting back home… you’re kind of it?”

Magnus blinks again, frowns slightly, then finally sighs. “Of course.”

And Alec is already narrowing his eyes at the rest of them. If they think they are going to have fun in this world while his husband is the only one who works to get them home, they can all think again.

+++

Izzy is the first to be called away from Alec’s tube-apartment, one of the people they apparently work with calling for her from a little further away, the kid clearly rather surprised when she pops out from the wrong door.

However, she is apparently needed for ‘a scene’.

Alec feels his eyes narrowing, and in unspoken agreement, he and Jace are already trailing after Izzy, wanting to know what kind of ‘scene’ she might be in. The others follow behind them, all of them rather curious about how this entire thing is going to work.

How do you play your own character all the while pretending you are actually someone else?

In the end, Alec is rather less than impressed.

Turns out ‘acting’ is mostly just a lot of memorized lines and a lot of repetitions of the same scenes and situations from different angles and with different lighting and being told to turn this way or that or look happier or more aggressive or to walk in from the left instead of the right and ‘no go back to how you did it before’ and loads of not-at-all helpful cues like that.

Alec really hopes he won’t have too many scenes to complete in order to keep up this charade and not ruin his alter ego’s life in the hopes – in case they really were switched out in both direction – that that other Alec will be returning the favor in Alec’s own world and not have messed things up irreparably by the time they get back.

Still, Alec hopes they’ll be able to leave before he has to do too many scenes and potentially rips into some of the people standing around watching. He watches Izzy doing her best to follow every direction she is given, Alec is fairly certain that he himself will react with far less patience to being told he is ‘standing wrong’ or ‘not catching the light from the right angle’ or other trivial nonsense like that.

Alec isn’t at all surprised when Magnus is the only one between them who doesn’t seem to have any problems with the whole thing, neither with memorizing his lines nor with the whole acting thing.

When Clary brings it up, his husband shrugs with a smile says something about Broadway and a rather spectacularly colorful time of his life and then goes on to dazzle the masses. Well, with everyone staring mesmerized at Magnus on set, at least no one can call out Alec for staring at his husband like a besotted fool either.

Alec himself honestly tries, but is admittedly far too unbalanced with everything that’s happened, his constant alertness as he watches for potential threats lurking in this world he knows nothing about, threats he might not recognize as such in time. The stress of it all has him in a rather abysmal mood throughout the day, scowling at every single person he comes across who decides to demand he do something or other. Which, oddly enough, somehow ends with him getting praised by one of the people forever yelling ‘cut’ or ‘action’ across the set, for how ‘in character’ Alec is supposedly acting, in front of the cameras and even away from them.

Clary fidgets off to the side and nervously provides anyone listening in that ‘Matt decided he wanted to try method-acting for this part of the script to really get into character’. Alec has no idea what that means but whatever the TV people took away from Clary’s comment, it has pretty much everyone leave Alec alone for now.

So, at least there’s that.

+++

They all agree right from the get-go to keep their various relationships entirely behind closed doors.

Clary, Simon, and Magnus are all rather insistent that just because it seems like no one is looking, there is actually no guarantee and better be safe than sorry, lest they ruin their alter egos’ actual relationships by not being careful.

Alec has no problem with that. For one, it’s not like he is particularly prone to making out with his husband in front of other people. And secondly, he only has to imagine what it would be like to watch Magnus – even an alternate version of him – kissing someone else, chest squeezing at the mere idea, for Alec to be fully on board with making sure that no one in this world gets so much as an inkling about anything being different at all.

He won’t do that to the other Alec or to the other Magnus or to whoever they are with and who their alter egos hopefully love as much as Alec and Magnus love each other.

+++

That night in bed, after Magnus casually portaled into Alec’s trailer instead of walking across, the two of them lying close together, Alec’s head on Magnus’ chest, pressed along his husband’s side, the reassuring hum of Magnus’ magic keeping watch around them, Alec sighs out, feels himself relax a little for the first time since they ended up in this strange, strange place.

“Good night, darling,” Magnus murmurs softly, just as Alec is drifting off to the feeling of soft lips pressing a gentle kiss to his hair.

Alec isn’t at all amused the next morning when he wakes and realizes that Magnus himself never actually went to sleep at all, staying in bed with Alec but instead of actually sleeping doing some weird magical meditation, memory-reliving thing that lets him dig through his own memories for information from books he might have read at some point or various discussions on magical theory he might have had with other warlocks, trying to find some information on how they might have ended up here and how they might be able to get back home.

“The sooner we get back, the better,” Magnus hums, thumb smoothing over Alec’s worriedly furrowed brow. “This world doesn’t have any magic, at least none that is readily accessible and I don’t feel comfortable with forcibly drawing it out.” He sighs. “But if I want to get us back home without any magic to draw from this world and also no magical anchors to tie any runes into or any ingredients to help strengthen the magic itself… I need to research a little.”

Alec feels his frown deepening, never likes it when Magnus talks so casually about solving everyone’s problems all the while pretending magic is ever free, pretending like his insane magical feats don’t tend to come at rather high costs to himself.

Magnus smiles at him, so very easily able to read Alec. “I’m fairly certain I read about a ritual a couple centuries ago which uses the caster’s own magic to anchor itself in one’s original world instead of whichever place one might have found themselves in. It might be perfect to get us back home. But I can’t quite remember the details of the runic circle needed for it.” A fluid shrug, a helpless smile. “So, I need to dig through some of my memories a bit to find it. It shouldn’t take too long.”

The last bit is said almost a little apologetically. Because of course, Magnus’ main concern is making Alec worry and not the reason why Alec is worried in the first place, namely Magnus’ own health.

He sighs, knows that Magnus is right about them needing to get back as quickly as they possibly can. He still absolutely resolves that – in case Magnus makes this whole not-sleeping-at-all thing into a pattern over the next days – Alec himself will make sure that his husband doesn’t entirely forget about his own health, whether it might mean a slight delay in their return home or not.

Magnus just smiles up at him softly, like he knows exactly what Alec is thinking. “You can make me rest to your heart’s content when we’re home again.” Then, something mischievous and seductively coy sparks in his husband’s eyes. “You can even tie me to the bed to make sure I won’t get up without your say-so.”

Instant heat zings down Alec’s spine. They’ve been married for a while now but that in no way changes just how absolutely, ridiculously, breathtakingly attractive his husband is, especially when he plays all coy to tease Alec.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he rumbles back, leaning in for a heated kiss, pressing Magnus back into the mattress, even as he can feel his husband’s delighted smile at getting exactly what he wants against his own lips.

Yeah, his husband knows perfectly well just how weak Alec is to Magnus handing over the reins entirely from time to time.

+++

Raphael and Meliorn – or rather, David and Jade – are the first to catch on that something is off with their group, the two of them already giving them all rather suspicious looks by the second day.

Izzy especially has been having a hard time not to treat the two of them like she would usually, having no frame of reference for how her alter ego usually treats them away from the cameras, and it’s making her uncharacteristically fidgety.

Then again, Alec isn’t much better where Lydia’s other version is concerned, has taken to just walking away whenever she appears in the same room.

And Jace, well, he almost takes off Valentine’s – or rather, Valentine’s alter ego’s – head, when they first see him on set, only quick thinking on Alec’s part letting him stop his parabatai from lunging clean across the room, straight for Valentine’s throat, Alec reaching out to more or less catch Jace across his chest with one arm and slinging him straight out of the room, right back out the door Jace just came through.

It gets the two of them reprimanded for ‘fighting on set’. Alec has no clue what the set assistant is talking about, glares so darkly at the woman trying to scold them for something so utterly ridiculous, she makes it about two and a half sentences into her reprimand before she promptly bursts into tears.

Jace barely makes it outside before he is promptly cracking up, while Alec just sighs.

It’s only their second day here and he is already done with all of it.

+++

“How-,” the camera person stares. “Where did you learn to do that?” He sounds absolutely baffled.

Alec frowns, honestly has no clue what the problem could possibly be _this_ time.

He made the jump from the building exactly as the ‘stunt team’ – whatever that is supposed to be – had described it to him, feeling utterly ridiculous all the while for having to land in some weird pose at the end that seemed rather unrealistic and then be forced actually pause ‘for effect’, so the camera people could get a better shot.

“The-,” the woman standing next to the camera person asks, eyes wide. “You jumped before they could attach the safety line to slow your fall! You jumped clean off a building!”

One of the guys from the aforementioned stunt team, standing just behind the woman promptly chimes in, just as wide-eyed. “And you landed like there was nothing to it? You didn’t even roll to dampen the impact!”

Alec is honestly confused. Yesterday, Simon managed to get them a couple of tapes to watch a few scenes of the – utterly ridiculous – series they are apparently starring in and his alter ego had done the exact same thing Alec just did. Alec made sure to check beforehand, to see how much his mundane version is able to do, to make sure he didn’t give anything away.

Magnus is leaning in, an amused sort of grin playing around his lips. “Special effects, darling,” he murmurs humorously.

A pause, and then he is scowling.

Are they trying to tell him that his alter ego can’t actually do all the things Alec has seen him do on TV? Sure, some of it might have looked off but he’d thought it might just be due to lack of training…

Damnit.

+++

Contrary to what the others had clearly believed initially about how much fun they’d have skipping around a film set, none of them seem to be particularly enjoying it. At all.

Sure, sometimes things work out perfectly and they make it through several scenes exactly as they are supposed to. But sometimes it’s also absolutely tedious to repeat the same thing countless times with just the slightest of alterations, or to be told to act more like the characters they are playing – characters who they actually are for real – which is honestly just ridiculous, being told that in _being_ yourself you are not acting enough _like_ yourself.

It’s the third day of them being here and they are once more gathered in Alec’s trailer, sprawled about what little furniture there is, though Alec made it more than clear when Simon tried to take a seat on the bed that there are parts of this space very much off limits to anyone. Including the space Alec sleeps with his husband.

“Haven’t you figured out how to get us back home yet?” Jace asks Magnus, voice frustrated and almost accusing in a way that instantly raises Alec’s hackles.

Because he’s seen Magnus staying up two nights in a row now, trying to work out how to get them back, trying to recall spells and books from his ridiculously vast memory.

“Why don’t you figure out how to cover for us?” Alec immediately suggests darkly. “So, Magnus will have more time to research.” So what if Alec is a little thin-skinned where people making demands of his husband is concerned. Even when it’s his parabatai making them.

Jace promptly scowls back, though his frustration is at least fully directed at Alec now instead of at Magnus. “Why for both of you?” he instantly demands. “Magnus I get, but why would I need to cover for _you_ as well.”

“Firstly, because I seem to be in almost every scene Magnus is in anyway. And secondly, because there is no way I’m leaving Magnus by himself while he is digging through his own mind with no one to watch his back.”

He hears Magnus sigh next to him, though it’s the soft and rather adoring sort of sigh his husband always gives whenever Alec goes overly protective on him. They have both long since accepted that they are rather ludicrously protective of each other, despite the fact that neither of them actually needs a protector at all, unless it’s for their admitted tendency to overdo it sometimes.

Well, at least to himself Alec is also willing to admit that, aside from the entire acting bit he is already starting to abhor, he also doesn’t at all enjoy what ‘getting into character’ actually means, neither for himself nor for his husband. Alec doesn’t like the many people fluttering around as they change outfits, the many people touching him and adjusting his hair and his clothes and, yeah, Alec isn’t alright with that at all. Even less so for people touching his husband, and certainly not while Magnus is only halfway dressed.

His scowl darkens.

So, everyone else will just have to get their act together and distract the endless people working at this place, so Magnus can get them back home before Alec finds his patience running out and ends up hunting down every single person who ever got to see his husband in various states of undress between scenes, much less dared to put their hands on him to ‘get him ready’, never mind that Magnus could magic their outfits perfectly in place within a mere second if they was given just a single moment of time to themselves.

Yeah, Alec is already rather close to the end of his tether.

+++

The fight scene between Jace and Alec is apparently too much for the TV people watching, everyone in quite the tizzy when the two of them ‘forget’ about the ridiculous choreographed fight moves – moves which, first of all, were way too slow, made no sense, were entirely unrealistic, and also would be utterly ineffective in real life – and instead just decided to go at it as they usually would in training.

They break five sword, three knives, an axe, and two bows, before they decide to just switch to hand-to-hand and leave the shoddily made weapons out of it. Seriously, Alec wouldn’t even let his little brother train with weapons that badly made.

At least, getting to really go up against his parabatai finally lets Alec work out some of his general frustration at their overall situation, the need to exert himself, to give all he has, the familiar burning of his muscles, the easy routine of going up against the person who knows his fighting style better than anyone else on the planet with everything he has, a welcome relief. Going by the easing of tension in Jace’s own frame, his parabatai clearly feels the same.

Afterwards, they are both feeling quite a bit better than they did before.

Although, as they are walking off the set, both of them once more settled within themselves, they hear Simon giggling nervously off to the side, telling one of the producers something about how ‘Matt and Dom worked really hard on that scene and they had trainers and it was meant to be a surprise and, really, they are fine, they didn’t get hurt during, please don’t try to check on them’.

Alec glances questioningly at Jace, who just shrugs in mirrored confusion.

Mundanes get so precious about the strangest of things.

+++

When he gets back to Magnus’ trailer, he finds his husband scribbling notes at the tiny table, various surfaces already covered in pieces of papers full of scribbles and runes and calculations.

“Magnus?” he asks, a slight frown on his face.

“Hm?” his husband hums in question but doesn’t actually look up as he usually would to greet him.

Alec reaches out carefully to tilt Magnus’ head towards him, only gets a slow, exhausted blink in reaction. And, yeah, that’s enough.

He easily pulls Magnus from his seat, moves the two of them towards the bed, already in the process of unbuttoning his husband’s shirt.

“I figured it out,” Magnus murmurs against the skin of Alec’s neck, all soft and warm and pliant in Alec’s arms, his exhaustion rather clearly taking its toll at last.

“You did?” Alec asks almost absently, far more concerned with getting his husband out of his shirt, into bed, under the covers, tucked against Alec’s chest, for a full night of sleep for once, than he is with these – admittedly excellent – news.

Sure, he’s glad to hear that they’ll be able to go back home soon. But he wasn’t exaggerating about Magnus’ exhaustion earlier. His warlock hasn’t let himself rest at all, working tirelessly on getting them back home whenever he wasn’t trying to fill in for his own alter ego in this world, all the while the rest of those who came with them have only been doing that latter bit, at most adding having some fun by way of confusing the mundanes on set to it, and then getting to go to their trailers at night and get their usual rest, none of them – including Alec – feeling any worse for wear, except for their general stress levels of being stuck here at all.

As always, his husband has been doing the lion’s share of the work.

Everyone better be prepared to take on Magnus’ share of duties for the foreseeable future once they get back. His husband deserves a break.

“How about,” Alec starts, once the two of them are finally settled in bed, Magnus resting halfway on top of him, eyes already closed. “How about, when we get back, we go somewhere? Maybe a vacation of some sort? Somewhere calm and quiet and peaceful. Just for a few days.” He softly runs a hand down the warm skin of Magnus’ back. “Just the two of us.”

He more feels than sees Magnus’ lazy smile against his chest. “Mhm,” he hums sleepily, clearly already well on his way to sleep. “Sounds lovely, darlin’.”

Alec presses a soft kiss to his husband’s hair as Magnus’ breathing finally evens out in sleep. It’s only afternoon of their fourth day here and he himself isn’t tired at all yet.

But a nap never harmed anyone and Alec is more than happy to hold his husband while he gets some much-deserved rest anyway.

+++

The inter-reality portal to get them back home saps the last of Magnus’ strength. Well, magic-wise he is clearly perfectly fine, but where his ability to focus is concerned… clearly not so much.

His exhaustion is so obvious that Izzy and Jace don’t even protest when Alec more or less declares they are to take up post in Alicante for a week, both of them suddenly looking rather worried about Magnus as well, at the way he sways the moment the portal closes behind them once more, blinking tiredly as Alec reaches out to steady him.

Yeah, they are definitely owed a few days of rest.

Alec simply declares himself off duty for a week from his own job, trusts the people he himself trained into their positions to work at the Inquisitor’s office with him to hold down the fort for a few days, and after a single glance at Magnus, a worried scan with her magic, Catarina doesn’t need any sort of convincing to agree to watch over Alicante in Magnus’ stead for a week or so.

And then, Alec makes good on his word, takes his husband away, on a vacation.

To that pacific island where they spent most of their honeymoon, the island that Magnus bought a couple centuries ago when privately owning islands outside of any country’s jurisdiction was still a thing, and which Magnus has long since warded against anyone ever finding it. It’s completely untouched by other people, no mundanes, no Downworlders, no Shadowhunters, no demons.

It’s perfect for the two of them to get some rest, a vacation well-earned, no one to interrupt them with their oh-so-cataclysmic problems. And also no neighbors to think of when Alec collects that other promise Magnus made him. You know, that promise about letting Alec tie him to the bed in order to make sure he rests.

Well, Alec fully intends to reverse the order of that offer, plans to collect just as soon as Magnus has rested a bit to recover his strength.

_Since he’s going to need it._

Alec feels his lips quirking up, grin only widening when he sees Magnus glancing over from where he is stretched out on the lounge chair beside his, eyeing Alec’s expression rather interestedly. Barely a second before Magnus is lazily tilting his head _just so_ , looking up at Alec the slightest bit through his lashes, something coy tucked into the edges of his own smile, as always rather easily recognizing the anticipatory heat currently in Alec’s eyes.

So, he easily leans over to pull his husband into a kiss, perfectly relaxed in this place that doesn’t even exist where the rest of the world is concerned, the sun above them, the ocean stretching in front of them as far as the eye can see, the soft ocean breeze curling around them, nothing but the soothing sound of waves lapping at the shore and Magnus’ soft hum against his lips.

Yeah, Alec decided a while ago that this island might just be one of his favorite places in the entire world.

A place for just the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is… an AU, I think? An AU of the canon characters visiting an alternate reality which is however also our world? Does that still qualify as an AU? It might also just be crack… Well, at least the idea was definitely crack, although this turned out far too serious to actually call it that, I think. Which leaves… Honestly, I have no idea what to call this. If nothing else it was a wonderful excuse to write some Malec fluff, with Magnus being his usual wonderfully worried-for-everyone-but-himself self, which has Alec all growly and protective in turn. Hope you enjoyed it, if only for the sheer ridiculousness of it all XD
> 
> Although, how this turned into something far more resembling an actual fic instead of just staying a single crack-y scene, I honestly have no idea XD Also, I blame my decision to post this at all (instead of having this join the ludicrous number of never-to-see-the-light-of-day ficlets in my various writing folders) on my stupidly overtired brain. Depending on how horrified I am by the quality of this tomorrow, after – hopefully – getting a little bit of sleep, I might take this down again rather soon, or at the very least re-edit this.
> 
> Would absolutely love to know what you think :D


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